© Archyde.com / Dado Ruvic
Photographic illustration of 5G on a motherboard.
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Jan 2 (Archyde.com) – The CEOs of AT&T and Verizon Communications rejected the US government’s request to postpone the January 5 rollout of the new 5G wireless service for air safety reasons, but offered to temporarily adopt new ones. safeguards.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief Steve Dickson asked AT&T CEO John Stankey and Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg late Friday for a delay in commercial deployment of no more than two weeks.
In a joint letter, the wireless companies said on Sunday that they will not roll out 5G around airports for six months, but rejected any broader limitations on the use of C-band spectrum.
They said the Department of Transportation’s proposal would be “an irresponsible abdication of the operational control required to deploy world-class and globally competitive communications networks.”
The aviation industry and the FAA have raised concerns about potential 5G interference with sensitive aircraft electronic components, such as radio altimeters, that could affect flights.
The exclusion zone that AT&T and Verizon propose is currently in use in France, the companies said, “with a slight adaptation” that reflects “modest technical differences in the way the C-band is deployed.”
“The laws of physics are the same in the United States and in France,” wrote the CEOs. “If American airlines are allowed to operate flights every day in France, the same operating conditions should allow them to do so in the United States.”
The FAA said in a statement Sunday that it is “reviewing the latest letter from wireless companies on how to mitigate interference from 5G C-band transmissions. US aviation security standards will guide our next actions.”
(Edited in Spanish by Carlos Serrano)